This season has been the worst for people requesting to be mowed on Thursdays or Fridays. I have tried to advise them that I can't drive 30 mins every week just to do their yard when I am mowing other properties in the same area a different day of the week. Even if I could it would rain one week and they would end up getting pushed to Monday or something. How does everyone else handle these requests?

dlonestar

05-05-2011, 11:17 AM

We provide discounts for mondays and tuesday being the scheduled day. I find a lot of people want there grass cut on thursday and friday so they look good on the weekend.

When doing a quote we offer a discount right away. Having them pay more for the highest demand days changes the way they talk to us about what day they get cut on.

Also, for the price conscious people they appreciate paying less.

Dr.NewEarth

05-05-2011, 01:11 PM

Personally, I wouldn't discount them to be cut earlier in the week. My costs are what they are.
If they are booking later in the season, they have to fit into what room is left in the schedule. Otherwise, your costs go up and you and your employees end up working later and you have to pay more expenses.

When you cut clients earlier in the week is it possible to cut them one increment shorter, so that it appears shorter on the weekend?

Perhaps this could lead to more weed control income too

If you do have employees, are they allowed to legally work four ten hour days per week?
Here, we can do that but only if we have a signed agreement stipulating how long the
four day weeks will last. ie: March-Nov.

We can't normally work more than an eight hour day and forty hours per week here, without paying overtime unless we have the written agreement. Overtime applies in this case after ten hours a day or forty hours per week.

My thought is, if you can work the ten hour day can you also squeeze more money out of the clients for a premium day cutting position?

You can present to them that your expenses are higher to cut on the premium days that every-one wants.

Daily Lawn/Landscape

05-05-2011, 11:47 PM

My routes are set and the only way I will brake routing, is for a premium price. I have 1 customer that pays $25 extra a week for us to cut on Thursday. When I get a call from someone that wants service, I tell them what my minimum price is. If they are still interested, I find out where they live and tell them at that point what day they will be mowed on. If they don't like ........ NEXT!
There are lots more fish in the sea.

James

j-ville native

05-07-2011, 07:34 AM

yeah my customers are the same. I try to do as many as I can Wed, Thurs, and Fri so their lawns still look good for the weekend. On Mondays and Tuesdays I service all the customers who could care less about when it is done and do other stuff like mulching, landscaping, hedge/shrub/tree trimming, fertilizing, etc.

mdlwn1

05-07-2011, 07:39 AM

Thats why a mix of commercial (at the right price) can be an important part of your mix. Commercials can be cut sat,sun Mon, tue,..etc. Adds a lot of flexibility to your book.

MR-G

05-08-2011, 11:27 PM

we run a full 8 day rotation during the summer.....no one gets cut on the same day each week....if you get cut this week on monday...then next week it will be tuesday....next wed. and so on....we can fit more accts into our route and also keep pricing to a minimum...it take a little longer to build up a clientel that will accept this scheduling, but it is worth it in the long run....and we almost never cut on saturdays and absolutley never on a sunday...EVER!!

Darryl G

05-09-2011, 12:25 AM

we run a full 8 day rotation during the summer.....no one gets cut on the same day each week....if you get cut this week on monday...then next week it will be tuesday....next wed. and so on....we can fit more accts into our route and also keep pricing to a minimum...it take a little longer to build up a clientel that will accept this scheduling, but it is worth it in the long run....and we almost never cut on saturdays and absolutley never on a sunday...EVER!!

Interesting! I only mow Wed - Friday (Saturday if I need to) so most customers are fine with when I come. Almost all of my high end accounts are within a few miles of eachother and on the same route and those get cut on Thursday. The others might get cut on Wednesday or Friday, depending on how things work out, but my Thursday ones almost always get done on Thursday. If it rains on Wednesday and I can't mow, I still do my Thursday route on shedule and my Wednesday route gets bumped to Friday.

MR-G

05-09-2011, 12:59 AM

Interesting! I only mow Wed - Friday (Saturday if I need to) so most customers are fine with when I come. Almost all of my high end accounts are within a few miles of eachother and on the same route and those get cut on Thursday. The others might get cut on Wednesday or Friday, depending on how things work out, but my Thursday ones almost always get done on Thursday. If it rains on Wednesday and I can't mow, I still do my Thursday route on shedule and my Wednesday route gets bumped to Friday. let me say, this is with average accts. not high end..we have 3 rigs of 3 ppl on each.......one does all commercial and one does all the high end......and one is doing the 8 day rotation....surprisingly the 8 day schedule and route has been more profitable consistantly for the last 3 yrs.

KINGMADE

05-09-2011, 02:12 AM

I make more off my tiny accounts but boy do I love my high ends. Less people to deal with and most of mine pay well and most accept the price quoted without any haggle. We mow Wednesday through Friday. Leaves Mondays Tuesdays open for big jobs or advertising. Never worked a Sunday.

GMLC

05-09-2011, 09:24 AM

I have my route so all commercial properties are done monday and tuesday, residentials thursday and friday. Wednesday is for clean ups, mulch etc. etc. right now and the only day I have left to schedule mowing.

abraham

05-13-2011, 12:37 AM

screw that.cut it when you can,too many variables at play.remember you are in charge....to a certain point.

Roger

05-13-2011, 08:23 AM

screw that.cut it when you can,too many variables at play.remember you are in charge....to a certain point.

You are in charge only to the point of what equipment you are using, and how you choose to do the work.

We work for a residential customer ONLY that their pleasure, not ours. If I was "in charge," I would have a different customer list. There are many properties I would like to work, but either the owner has chosen to do the work themselves, or they have hired somebody else. I'm hardly in charge.

Raymond S.

05-17-2011, 05:07 PM

Monday is commercials. Tuesday is a mix of commercials and some residentials. Wednesday is hump day...meaning we hump out about 20 residentials. Then Thursday is a wind down with 10 or so residentials. Friday is open for maintenance, projects, and the inevitable rain day. This year I made Wednesday a long day and pushed a lot of residentials together. Some complained but I told them w/ the price of gas I couldn't make 2 trips to their neighborhood just because they wanted it a day later. Besides, we're talking less than 1/4" of growth in a day.
This has worked good so far this year. If I get a day of rain, I still just push everyone a day and I'm done w/ Sat. & Sun. to spare. If I schedule Thur. & Fri. what happens when I get rain earlier in the week? I'm now all the sudden pushed to Sat. It's works for me scheduling earlier in the week and leaving Fri. open. Most people understand.

Dtauriac

06-07-2011, 12:13 AM

What i do is trade the acct with another maintenance company for one that falls on my route. The guys love that here in Ga. I'm don't think anyone else does it so the few guys I talk to they are always excited when I introduce the idea so far I needed to do it 3 times and I now have 3 clients right here in my neighborhood. Every maintenance comapny that rolls thru my community I flag them down and we exchange info while I explain the idea. You all should try - and you will be helping each other attain convenient work.

MR-G

06-07-2011, 08:03 AM

we do all our accts in the order that they are due...we dont promise a specific day or time either...if we get behind for some reason we bump the entire schedule and just pick up right where we left off...no such thing here as a "friday only" acct....we will also only work a saturday if we are more than 2 days behind....and NEVER work a sunday...ever..

MR-G

06-07-2011, 08:06 AM

What i do is trade the acct with another maintenance company for one that falls on my route. The guys love that here in Ga. I'm don't think anyone else does it so the few guys I talk to they are always excited when I introduce the idea so far I needed to do it 3 times and I now have 3 clients right here in my neighborhood. Every maintenance comapny that rolls thru my community I flag them down and we exchange info while I explain the idea. You all should try - and you will be helping each other attain convenient work. we have been doing this for 25 yrs...but only with a few lco's that we trust.....it really helps us all out :usflag: